On Tuesday (February 20), a Utah judge sentenced vlogger Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt to 4 to 60 years in prison after the two pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.
Ruby Franke admitted in her 10-page plea agreement that she kicked her son while wearing boots, tied him up, and covered his mouth and nose with her hands, preventing him from breathing.
Ruby Franke, a mother of six, used to offer parenting advice on her YouTube channel
“Under the plea agreement, two more charges of aggravated child abuse for each woman were dropped,” Tania Mashburn, a spokeswoman for Utah State Courts, told People.
Ironically, Ruby Franke, a mother of six, used to offer parenting advice on the once-popular YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
Russell, Franke’s 12-year-old son, escaped through Hildebrandt’s window and sought assistance from a neighbor in the southern Utah city of Ivins on August 30 last year.
The boy was thin, covered in wounds, and wore duct tape around his ankles and wrists. According to the search warrant, he told investigators that Hildebrandt tied ropes around his limbs and dressed his cuts with cayenne pepper and honey.
The two women were subsequently arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated abuse.
While Franke pleaded guilty to four of six charges at a hearing on December 18, Hildebrandt had two of her six charges dropped as part of the plea agreement.
However, Russell was not the only one who suffered abuse.
Ruby Franke’s YouTube channel is no longer active, and her husband, Kevin Franke, has filed for divorce.
Hildebrandt admitted in court that she asked Franke’s youngest daughter, a 9-year-old, to jump into a cactus several times and run barefoot on dirt roads until her feet blistered.
After the arrest, both the boy and the girl were taken to the hospital.
Ruby Franke’s YouTube channel is no longer active, and her husband, Kevin Franke, has filed for divorce.
